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The Sunday Best (5/31/2020)

The Sunday Best

The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated from the furthest reaches of the internet for your reading pleasure.

Every week, I scan hundreds of headlines, read dozens of posts, and bring you the best of the best to save you time and mental energy.

Financial Independence (FI) is a primary focus, but it’s an awfully broad topic. I tend to approach FI and early retirement from a fatFIRE perspective and through the lens of a physician, so expect to see those biases in the selected articles.

Related topics that have become recurrent themes include early retirement, selective frugality, tax issues, travel, physician issues, and of course, investing.

For more great articles, take a peek at The Sunday Best Archives. Now let’s get to the best… The Sunday Best!

 

 

The Sunday Best

 

My wife and I had a lovely conversation with the one and only Doc G of the DiverseFI and the Earn & Invest podcast (formerly What’s Up Next). An update on our post-retirement lives in Episode 110: They Retired at The Worst Time.

 

Two months ago, I “celebrated” an important milestone; I lost $1 Million. Turns out I’m not the only kid from southern Minnesota who retired early only to lose a million dollars. Go Curry Cracker feels my pain. So That’s What It Feels Like to Lose $1 Million.

 

Neither of us are in crisis mode, though. WIth a diversified portfolio, you generally remain a millionaire even after losing a million dollars. The average retiree, however, has nowhere near one million dollars, as Fritz Gilbert of The Retirement Manifesto points out. Are We Facing a Retirement Crisis?

 

If more of us had the saving and spending habits of The Financial Mechanic, there would be no hint of a retirement crisis. I Could Retire Next Year At The Age of 28— But I Won’t.

 

Incrowd_surveys

Answer quick MicroSurveys for cash. Designed with convenience and timeliness in mind, 70% of surveys are answered on a mobile device in just a few minutes.

Physicians, Pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals are invited to join Incrowd today!

 

Physicians undergo many career transitions. There’s retirement, but there’s also graduation from residency and fellowship, and for most docs, several job changes. Be sure to make the most of those opportunities. Physician in Transition: A Fast Track Guide to Financial Security.

 

The novel coronavirus and the havoc it’s wreaked on our hospitals and many career trajectories should be a huge wake-up call. As the OB Doctor Mom says, The Time is Now to Take Back Medicine.

 

This pandemic should also serve as a wake up call to those who don’t have their finances in order. Steven of Even Steven Money answers the Top 5 Money Questions Being Asked During COVID-19.

 

Here’s a great question posed (and answered) by Mike Piper, the Oblivious Investor. Why is the Market Doing Well Lately?

 

Buy an index fund. Go with the total stock market. Vanguard is great. That’s pretty specific advice, but you still have a couple of options. John (who once worked for Vanguard) and Sam of How to FIRE explain the differences between the two. VTSAX vs. VTI: What’s the Real Difference?

 

We’re answering both good questions and dumb questions in today’s Sunday Best. This one is posed by The White Coat Investor, frankly, a dumb question. You’ll understand why after reading What Percentage of Your Current Income Will You Need in Retirement?

 

I stopped automatically reinvesting dividends several years ago. This is why. The FI Physician shares a few more reasons to do so. When Should I Stop Automatic Dividend Reinvestment?

 

I was FI within ten years of beginning my anesthesia career due to some combination of luck, thrift, and geographic arbitrage. The Physician Philosopher is on a similar trajectory, and he’s letting the world know how he plans to make it happen. From Medical Degree to Financially Free.

 

Conventional wisdom had me thinking our local real estate market would be soft this summer. I was dead wrong; properties are selling like hotcakes! Gary Karz with Humble Dollar is less surprised. He lists 7 reasons why one should consider Betting on Bricks.

 

Get Your Brick On

 

Over the past decade, we’ve bought four residences, sold four, and still have two (just like we did a decade ago — but a different two). We’ve also bought and sold investment lakefront property and have participated in a number of crowdfunded real estate deals.

You’d think I’d be a seasoned real estate investor and that we’d be done buying and selling for the foreseeable future, and I don’t think either is true. The truth is, I haven’t had any sort of real estate investing strategy.

Kenji and Leti of Semi-Retired MD have a crystal clear real estate investing strategy, and it’s given them “Fast FIRE,” or financial freedom in as few as five years. How did they do it?

They share their strategies in the free Zero to Freedom mini-course.

If you’re ready to step up and develop your own plan for real estate investing, their highly-acclaimed hands-on 8-week course Zero to Freedom Through Cashflowing Rentals opens for the first time this year tomorrow!

If you choose to enroll, Kenji and Leti guarantee that you’ll make more progress in real estate investing in the first 3 weeks of the course than you have in the past year or they’ll give you your money back. For a peek at past students’ results and more details on the course content, check them out here.

Using our referral link to enroll supports the charitable mission of Physician on FIRE.

 

 

Note: This course is eligible for 5 credits of CME, so you may be able to use your CME fund or deduct the tuition as a business expense.

 

Money for Bricks

 

Earlier in my career, I used physician loans twice. Once to buy my residency condo and again to build our first “doctor home.” Here on the website, I’ve compiled a list of mortgage lenders that specialize in physician loans.

I recently made some upgrades to the functionality of that page to make it much more user friendly. If you’re in the market for a home and will be needing a traditional (20% down) or physician (0% to <20% down) mortgage loan, please check out our recommended mortgage lenders for every state.

Here’s a preview:

 

Select Your State

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY DC

AK | AL | AR | AZ | CA | CO | CT | DE | DC | FL | GA | HI | IA | ID | IL | IN | KS | KY | LA | MA | MD | ME | MI | MN | MO | MS | MT | NC | ND | NE | NH | NJ | NM | NV | NY | OH | OK | OR | PA | RI | SC | SD | TN | TX | UT | VA | VT | WA | WI | WV | WY

 

 

 

 

A Featured Insurance Agent (for Disabilty & Term Life Insurance)

 

Kaplan Financial

Kaplan Financial Robert B. Kaplan, Certified Financial Planner™, founder and President of Kaplan Financial, specializes in serving the unique disability insurance needs of over 2,500 physicians nationwide. Robert, who founded the firm in 1990, is a former CPA with Ernst & Young and has been married to a practicing physician for over 25 years.

Robert is a recognized sales leader among disability insurers. He works with a broad range of insurers to find the best combination of policy features, cost, and financial strength for you. As a result, he is able to make informed recommendations based on objective research and your individual needs.

Kaplan Financial is the place to go for objective and experienced financial advice, discounted rates on individual disability insurance, and a long-term commitment of superior service. I invite you to contact Robert Kaplan, CFP® today by visiting his website at www.KaplanFinancial.net; email at robert@kaplanfinancial.net; or by calling 818.783.6620.

Kaplan Financial Vetting Application

 

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE

 

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2 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (5/31/2020)”

  1. Subscribe to get more great content like this, an awesome spreadsheet, and more!
  2. Great Sunday Best as always PoF! I hope you and your family are safe and sound during these “interesting times”. Keep up the great posts!

    Reply

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